VERY MUCH SO

Exhibited in the Kina gallery
17 June – 15 July 2009

VERY MUCH SO, explored shapes seen in nature and reminded us of the experiences we have within our local environment. The exhibition featured the work of two artists who investigated natural form but approached this subject in very distinct ways.

Local artist Rebecca Mooney’s vivid paintings harnessed the energy and brilliant colour of our environment. Some of the work presented in this show marked a shift in Mooney’s work towards the use of organic outline: bold silhouettes contained her characteristic expressive strokes alluding to a notion of balance between chaos and order. These new works captured energy and movement whilst unifying calm and control. Mooney’s work is very sensual; she captures moments in time that prompt our memories and experiences of nature. The colour, layers and heavy tactile strokes suggest the way one may feel and experience the environment: the wind, the movement of shadows or even the noise of leaves rustling.

Just as Mooney’s work evokes and reminds us of sensations, Hokianga artist, Liz McAuliffe, contributed exquisite work to this show which could reference another dimension of how our environment can be experienced. By amplifying the original scale of the found object, McAuliffe’s carved and painted work invited the viewer to consider the original form more closely. The heightened scale drew us in to inspect the shape and surface of each artefact and prompted memories of our own delight and intrigue we experience when finding such objects in our natural environment, albeit of a much smaller scale. McAuliffe’s sculptural works take us beyond a purely physical interpretation, to a space where we can question our own fascination and reverence for nature.

VERY MUCH SO explored and embraced the relationships we form with nature through the clever work of two artists. Although working in very different mediums, the combination of Mooney and McAuliffe’s work provided us with unified, yet alternative views of our natural environment and the experiences we have within it.